and I'm sayin' it here.

Saturday’s Story

I used to think I was tough. Today, I made it through the day but am very aware that I would not last long in this climate, doing what people do who live here. We had our medical outreach clinic for four hours in the morning, a lunch break, and almost four hours more in the afternoon. It was inside out of the sun but very hot and of course, there was no AC to cool us or the patients. I’m most likely just dehydrated but it has given me a serious headache, and I can think of little else but getting rid of it.

However it was a successful outreach. Of the 130 people in the community who were invited, 136 patients came through. Some were staff at Asia’s Hope which swelled the number. All received medical attention. Many received eyeglasses. All heard the gospel of Christ presented to them and 78 responded. Their names and addresses were recorded for follow-up so they could be invited to church to learn more.

We went to one of the Asia’s Hope homes for lunch – it was on the same compound as the outreach. The house mothers had prepared a nice meal and we sat around the room and ate. One of the treats midway through was the prepared coconuts with a straw stuck in the middle. We were each offered one and since it was delicious and I was thirsty, I drank the whole thing. They hold more than you might think. After I drained it, houseparent An chopped it in half and I scooped out the soft meat inside which was also very good. I had never had a “green” coconut before. Some of the others were talking about having gotten sick eating (or overeating) on green coconuts but I’m not going to hear that. It probably saved my life today – and that’s the story I’m sticking to.